LACOMBE — Alberta’s technology minister was jeered, badgered and booed late Wednesday by a room packed with hundreds of people over the province’s plans for an artificial intelligence data centre.
Nate Glubish was in the central town of Lacombe for the first in a series of town halls touting the windfall the mega-facilities could bring.
Dozens of people lined up to ask questions, but none who made it to the microphone before the event ended offered an endorsement.
There was also little trust in the Alberta government to regulate an industry poised to invest billions of dollars in the province to feed a growing global computing demand.
“Albertans do not want data centres,” said one man who came from the neighbouring town of Ponoka.
Another woman told Glubish to “get your boxing gloves on” if another AI data centre was being planned for the region.
“Your words are nice, you explain things well, but I don’t trust you, and I think that the people in this room agree with me,” she said to big applause.
Bek MacIntosh, a high-profile opponent of a data centre in the nearby town of Olds, called her and the community’s fight against the facility for more than eight months “pure hell” and “psychological warfare.”
MacIntosh said the government should put proper safeguards in place for locals.
Glubish, in response, said an application to build a natural gas facility to power the proposed massive data centre complex in Olds was denied due to its proximity to a residential area.
He apologized for the regulator’s timeline and promised the government is looking at specific setback rules.
He also said data centre sites need to be far from residential areas, and that Premier Danielle Smith’s government is looking at setback provisions.
MacIntosh later said Glubish avoided addressing the more worrisome impacts of the facilities, such as water.
She said she doesn’t trust that Olds is safe from future data centre proposals.
“It’s delightful to hear those words but absolutely useless after all these months,” MacIntosh told reporters.
Some who spoke at the event also aired concerns about the potential abuse of personal data and global surveillance.
One woman said the technology represents the weaponization of human data, a push for digital identification and other measures that she said equated to treason.
Another speaker expressed concern about AI stealing jobs and called it an existential threat that the government cannot control.
Glubish said there are broad fears about AI and its use, and that any technological tool can be abused if it’s not closely regulated.
He said that AI, as a tool, isn’t inherently bad — it depends on whether it is used responsibly.
“There are folks who said similar things about computers, similar things about calculators,” he said.
Others raised concerns about how the government plans to enforce the cleanup of data centre sites if they end up closing. One speaker worried that the taxpayer would bear the costs.
Glubish said the government would enforce the polluter-pays principle.
“(AI centres are) not drilling holes into the ground and they’re not pulling up chemicals out of the ground. This is just a warehouse with computers in it,” Glubish said to some heckling.
Wednesday’s crowd was tough from the get-go.
When Glubish took to the podium, one attendee asked him to make a land acknowledgment, given the impact data centres have on land use.
Glubish agreed and delivered an on-the-spot recognition of the territory’s history, naming the treaties that span Alberta and the Métis Nation of Alberta.
He was promptly booed by some in the community hall.
“If you don’t like the acknowledgment, I’m sorry that I’m not perfect. I’m just a human here,” he said.
As a political staffer tried to bring the event to a close, he was met with loud protests from those who had been waiting to speak with the minister.
Moderator Vitor Marciano said he gave most people extra time to ask questions.
“There has been some misinformation here, but I’m not sure it’s coming from the stage,” he said.
By Lisa Johnson
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2026.
